All Time GOAT poll

My personal vote goes to Jon Jones not only for his insane amount of title defences and being champ for so long, and wiping out 3 generations of fighters and going almost undefeated,but also for being what a true martial artist is about and always conducting himself with class and dignity and being a positive role model
 
How good were the fighters you beat at the time you beat them, how strong is your division, how dominant were your wins, how many losses at what point of your career and how did you lose, have you popped for PEDs more than once, are you a dirty fighter

I don’t think title defenses is the only measure of greatness. If you beat someone in a 5 round main event you both had like 4 months to prepare for, maybe as a title eliminator bout so the stakes are really high, is there any real difference in how much legacy you gain from that fight? some fighters like dillashaw got essentially free title defenses against guys making their ufc debuts, joe soto

plus the era you’re in matters too. Beating some guy in 2002 for a title isn’t the same as beating a guy in 2023 for a title, it’s just not
 
Sample size is the only meassurement for greatness!

You cannot be considered GOAT it you had a micro career and moreover a micro prime with a hand full of fights! For example Cains prime consists of maybe 2-3 years where he had like 7-9 fights against 5 guys, so how in hell could anybody value this over someone like Anderson who had over 10 title defenses, not counting his way to the top?

Today we have a lot of fight fans and many of them chose their favorite fighter not on their results but because they feel somehow connected to them, either through nationality, race or culture and they try their best to justify why they think their guys are better than others, which results in them making up intangible criteria for goatness, like “never been cut” for example, which has nothing to with how anyone not having down syndrom should evaluate someonea career.
 
I say it's roughly who they fought and and the quality of this opponent at that time when they fought them.

Plus, a certain amount of domination during their reign.

And the completeness of their skill set would be the last factor but not as important as the other two factors.

That's roughly about it.
 
Divisional domination, loads of high level defences, fantastic performances, being levels above the competition, and to a lesser extent being an ambassador and figurehead for the sport.
 
I just sit back for a while, let all the thoughts go, let all of the shit go, and simply think of the one name that pops up.

Jon Jones.
 
balkanbomber85 said:
Sample size is the only meassurement for greatness!

You cannot be considered GOAT it you had a micro career and moreover a micro prime with a hand full of fights! For example Cains prime consists of maybe 2-3 years where he had like 7-9 fights against 5 guys, so how in hell could anybody value this over someone like Anderson who had over 10 title defenses, not counting his way to the top?

Today we have a lot of fight fans and many of them chose their favorite fighter not on their results but because they feel somehow connected to them, either through nationality, race or culture and they try their best to justify why they think their guys are better than others, which results in them making up intangible criteria for goatness, like “never been cut” for example, which has nothing to with how anyone not having down syndrom should evaluate someonea career.
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I have my own little justification for putting cruz in my top 10 “never lost in his prime” since it was so short lol, among other reasons why obviously, but I just like his style and trash talk Im not from cali or latin or anything
 
Davidjacksonjones said:
My personal vote goes to Jon Jones not only for his insane amount of title defences and being champ for so long, and wiping out 3 generations of fighters and going almost undefeated,but also for being what a true martial artist is about and always conducting himself with class and dignity and being a positive role model
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The difficulty and diversity of challenges they have overcome while playing by the rules. So stylistically tough match ups score much higher, than stylistically easy match ups, for me. Also, having wins over bigger opponents adds extra merit, but also to an extent smaller, faster opponents (so diversity). But diversity also includes the different styles they have won against. Obviously the state the opponent was in/the circumstances (prime, injured, short notice, etc.) has to be taken into account, too.

If they cheated in a fight I'm likely to exclude that fight from the overall assessment. Unless it's something really minor that likely didn't have much effect, or if like both fighers are equally guilty of the same cheating, like both are grabbing the cage or something.
 
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Here is mine:

-Can't just lay on fighters for 5 rounds
-Can't dodge super fight if other fighter is down and only one weight class higher
-Cannot fight a bunch of bottom tier WW or bloated LWs for credentials
-Cannot get KO'd by a fighter naturally in a lighter weight class
-2003-2012 fighters have TDD of wooden planks, so cannot just double leg and lay on them
-Cannot than decide to move up a weight class and fight the weakest MW champ of all times

That's a good starting list IMHO
 
It's a little different for MMA because the modern version is quite young and there is a pretty clear start, evolution and peak in the sport.

The greats before the peak are pioneers, not "GOATS" because they wouldn't do great in the newer era's. There are some special cases of fighters who were around before and after this peak and did well in every era(Like Hendo, Vitor etc.)

Other than that it should be like any other combat sport. You look at resume, accomplishments and how good the fighter was and how well his skills translate to other era's.
 
I try and look at things like ranked wins, title wins, and title defenses relative to their division, as well as the overall strength of their competition. Ultimately there’s some subjectivity in there. For me, it seems pretty clear that the top 3 are Fedor, GSP. and Jones, but sorting out the order really involves splitting hairs.

I try and stay away from weird subjective criteria overall like, “Oh, I imagine that if prime Fighter A fought prime Fighter B, Fighter A would totally win”—I think that shit is silly.
 
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